The Spectrum of innovati nClean Energy Innovation Energy Innovation Portal Brings Fundamental Science Market-Relevant Research

DOE Technologies to the Market Systems Integration

For venture capitalists, energy entrepreneurs, and industry veterans, Testing and Validation finding the right renewable energy or energy efficiency solution Commercialization used to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Now, a searchable treasure trove of innovative U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Deployment technologies is available. Created by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the online Energy Innovation Portal helps Through deep technical expertise businesses and entrepreneurs access the intellectual property of and an unmatched breadth of DOE’s 17 national laboratories and other research partners. capabilities, NREL leads an integrated approach across the spectrum of renewable energy innovation. From NREL’s previous experience with industrial partners led its Commercialization and Technology scientific discovery to accelerating Transfer Office to identify the need for a comprehensive database of available DOE technolo- market deployment, NREL works in gies. Never before had an exhaustive effort been undertaken to show DOE’s ouput from a partnership with private industry patent perspective. to drive the transformation of our nation’s energy systems. NREL led the development of the Energy Innovation Portal (techportal.eere.energy.gov) for DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), creating the architecture and This case study illustrates NREL’s carrying out the software development, including the selection and integration of more than innovations in Commercialization 50 software applications. The Java-based website employs a MySQL relational database and through Deployment. includes a customized content management system and a search engine tuned to meet the needs of investors and entrepreneurs.

NREL also oversaw the initial development of a customized software script—and executed subsequent script improvements—to automatically populate the MySQL database with more than 15,000 DOE-created patents and published patent applications, sourced from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Patents from DOE national laboratories are filed under the names of their managing organizations—for NREL, it was previously the Midwest Research Institute and is now the Alliance for Sustainable Energy. But for the Energy Innovation Portal, NREL developed an improved algorithm to associate laboratory contract numbers and management organizations to the laboratories themselves, allowing users to find the relevant patents by simply searching for the names of the national labs.

NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. The portal also provides more than 500 business-friendly market summaries for Technology categories technologies available for licensing throughout the national labs. In addition to the market summaries, the portal includes summaries of emerging technologies for The Energy Innovation Portal contains more than 15,000 which the patent applications have not yet been published. patents and patent applications, as well as more than 500 marketing summaries, on such topics as: How It Works • Advanced Materials The Energy Innovation Portal gathers patent data by tapping into the U.S. Patent and • Biomass and Biofuels Trademark Office database and searching the millions of entries for those funded by DOE. Content administrators from NREL or any of the other research partners • Building Energy Efficiency can then add marketing summaries and summaries of emerging technologies. • Electricity Transmission and Distribution These help businesses interested in licensing the technologies to understand their potential uses. • Energy Analysis Models, Tools, and Software • Energy Storage “A patent is a legal document written from a legal perspective—what we wanted to do was create and include the marketing summaries written by the labs that tout • Geothermal Energy the technology features, potential applications in the market, advantages, diagrams, • Hydrogen and Fuel Cells and contact info,” says Matt Ringer, NREL’s program manager for technology com- mercialization. “You won’t see one of these summaries for every patent; rather we • Hydropower, Wave Energy, and Tidal Energy wanted the laboratories to be able to highlight the technologies they wanted to • Industrial Technologies focus on, so that technology seekers could find them.” • Solar Photovoltaic Devices Portal users can search thousands of clean energy related patents available for • Solar Thermal Energy licensing as well as patent applications; browse marketing summaries of clean energy technologies available for licensing, which are organized into 14 technology • Vehicles and Fuels areas; see cutting-edge emerging technologies; sign up for e-mail updates; and link • Wind Energy directly to the DOE laboratories that developed the available technologies to get more information.

The principle behind the portal is one of collaboration and partnership—public-sec- tor laboratories like NREL need private-sector partners to move inventions to market and deploy them in the global marketplace. The portal supports that public-private collaboration and makes the innovation process as fast and as effective as possible.

Technologies at one’s fingertips What can be found on the portal? A market summary for Zymomonas mobilis 8b, for one—a genetically designed bacterium from NREL that dramatically reduces the cost and effort involved in producing cellulosic bioethanol. Interested biofuels manufacturers can easily access more information about Z. mobilis 8b or contact information for a licensing professional.

Other recent market summaries include a process for converting algal oil to alterna- tive aviation fuel, developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory; a new “Glitter” pho- National Renewable tovoltaic technology, developed by Sandia National Laboratories; and Facility Energy Energy Laboratory Decision System Software, developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to 1617 Cole Boulevard quickly and objectively identify recommended energy improvements to facilities. Golden, Colorado 80401-3305 303-275-3000 • www.nrel.gov The Energy Innovation Portal is easy to use, available to anyone, and free of charge. NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Users simply point and click to find out more about a technology or to connect with Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, a licensing professional at the appropriate laboratory to talk about accessing these operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. technologies. NREL/FS-6A42-50992 • October 2011 Printed with a renewable-source ink on paper containing at “Our national laboratories are a major driver of innovation in this country,” says least 50% wastepaper, including 10% post consumer waste. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “By connecting American entrepreneurs with cutting- edge, ready-to-commercialize technologies from the national labs, the DOE Inno- vation Portal is helping to grow our economy and create the next generation of American jobs.”